Portmanteau: A blend of two (or more) words or morphemes and their meanings into one new word.

I would like to know if there is a word for a blend of two (or more) idioms or common phrases and their meanings into one new idiom.

example: I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. - something that you say in order to tell someone that you will not worry about a possible problem but will deal with it if it happensburn bridges: - to cutoff the way back to where you came from, making it impossible to retreat.Blends into:I'll burn that bridge when I come to it. - meaning I will make this problem completely unsolvable once it arises. (or something like that)

I know I've heard "I'll burn that bridge when I come to it" before and love it. I suppose we could create a portmanteau? a "portmantidiom"?

Even if you don't have much, a sure thing may be better than taking a risk: "A drop in the bucket is worth two in the bush"To summarize, while loosing all comprehensible meaning: "To make a long story all greek to me"

"If we can hit that bullseye then the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate."-- Zapp Brannigan

This combines several idioms ("hit the bullseye", "the rest of the dominoes", "fall like a house of cards", "Checkmate" outside the context of chess), and it successfully combines the meaning of the idioms into a new meaning. It combines the images of "strike", "chain reaction", "collapse", and "win" for an amusingly vague image of a single precise blow triggering a chain of events and mass destruction. It is a portmidiom. However, a mixed metaphor does not have to use idioms, in which case it cannot be a portmidiom. This would be your average, bad mixed metaphor.

It seems to work; two idioms, combined to create a new meaning makes it a portmidiom ("we have to spend less or we will go bankrupt".) But I wouldn't call it a terribly good one, it just isn't amusing.

There is still the other issue of whether idioms and mixed metaphors are in fact overlapping categories. While a metaphor uses imagery to convey a meaning, idioms may be defined as phrases violating the principle of compositionality, where the literal meaning of the words doesn't even abstractly relate to their understood meaning. This type of idiom must be learned like an individual word, having its own unique meaning. Many accepted idioms do in fact contain some bit of metaphor, such as "hit the road" or "pound the pavement" which could be associated with walking. Orwell would agree with a more general definition of idiom, pointing out that through mindless repetition of certain cliches, writers are "perverting the original phrase" and gradually changing its meaning over time; doesn't "hit the road" make you think of getting in a car? Was it originally associated with walking? What was once a good metaphor can become overused, confused, and gradually have its meaning displaced with a new one, completely unrelated to the original words.

At the present time I will admit that I do concur with Orwell, it seems highly probable that currently observed trends in increased usage of electronic communication will cast a dark shaddow over any hopes for a greater number of popular, creative implementations that follow what is widely regarded by experts to be a precise and demonstrably useful implementation of the English language.

unlofl wrote:IAt the present time I will admit that I do concur with Orwell, it seems highly probable that currently observed trends in increased usage of electronic communication will cast a dark shaddow over any hopes for a greater number of popular, creative implementations that follow what is widely regarded by experts to be a precise and demonstrably useful implementation of the English language.

R3sistance - I don't care at all for the ignorance spreading done by many and to the best of my abilities I try to correct this as much as I can, but I know and understand that even I can not be completely honest, truthful and factual all of the time.

I realise this is an old thread, but someone linked from elsewhere in a discussion about the same subject so I thought I'd pop the answer in here as well; The word is 'Dundrearyism' after the character Lord Dundreary from the play Our American Cousin, who employed them. Such as 'birds of a feather gather no moss'. The seventh Doctor from Doctor Who used them in his earlier stories too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Dundreary

I've used both "Burn that bridge when I get to it" and "Is a bear Catholic?/Does the Pope poop in the woods?", although I don't think anyone noticed when I did. There was also a sketch in a school drama night I was in that used the line "Let's make like a tree and blow this popsicle stand", which to this day I love. I like both idmanteau and the broader malaphor as words to describe the phenomenon. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a dog with two tails.